CHICAGO—Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company was met with a cool, spring, yet sunny Chicago day and a full house for its afternoon performance at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace on May 11.
“I thought it was wonderful,” said Patrick Dalton about the Shen Yun performance. “I just really enjoyed it from beginning to end.”
“Uplifting, it’s such a beautiful show,” said Mr. Dalton, retired writer of educational training materials for Reader’s Digest.
Shen Yun’s mission is to revive 5,000 years of divinely inspired civilization through the universal language of dance and music.
“A performance by Shen Yun is a presentation of traditional Chinese culture as it once was: a study in grace, wisdom, and the virtues distilled from the five millennia of Chinese civilization,” states the company’s website.
“They’re just beautiful the way both the women and men [move] and the combination of the gymnastics,” Mr. Dalton said. “The dancing it’s just beautiful. I think it’s very, very good.”
The gymnastic Mr. Dalton referred to is the technical aspect of classical Chinese dance, which predates the origins of gymnastics. Put another way, gymnastics came from classical Chinese dance, according to the company’s website.
Mr. Dalton felt that the message brought forth by traditional Chinese culture of spirituality and of divine beings integration into man’s life was “behind the screen and during the dancing. [It] really portrayed that part, really brought that to the forefront, right from the beginning. I thought it was just very well done.”
When asked if the moral values of traditional culture are useful for today’s world, he replied: “I would certainly hope so. That was my first thought at the very beginning as they were talking about the Creator … the history of the Chinese people, the 5,000 years [of history], and that is enduring. It’s an enduring message, and it’s beautiful.”
There are some 20 mini-drama dance and vocal soloists programs. The first dance is Descending to the World with the Creator paving the way for China’s divinely-inspired culture, according to the program guide.
Mr. Dalton explains: “The message was on the screen, and the digitals that were on the stage [of the vocal soloists’ lyrics] really talk about the enduring history of not only the Chinese people, but the enduring history of creation, and the beauty of creation, the beauty of history, the beauty of our being of our world, in a total way. I think it was just very beautifully put together right from the start.”
“I think that’s the beauty of this [performance] is that everyone will walk away with a different impression, a different feeling … but I do believe it leaves you thinking about a lot of things.”
Reporting by Valerie Avore and Cat Rooney
Shen Yun Performing Arts is performing at Cadillac Palace Theater, Chicago through May 12.
Shen Yun Performing Arts, based in New York, tours the world on a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
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